What’s a Geo-Enabled LibGuide? Dive Into This Interactive Learning Environment

The heart of geography is the exploration of space, place, location, and movement – a field of study that is constantly changing and thrives on collaboration. We recently connected with Dr. Barbara MacLennan, Assistant Professor of Geography at Fairmont State University (FSU), about their innovative geo-enabled LibGuide. This project began as an idea to keep the cooperative spark of geography projects alive during the pandemic and has become a dynamic resource for students, researchers, and the public!

The Ultimate Information Collaboration

Barbara used FSU's library as a resource for her project and shared, “You can see how Geography and libraries would go together because of a shared love of all around knowledge and learning.” The library suggested using LibGuides to host material and augmented the guide with a curated list of library resources – linking to movies and books in their collection. Barbara noted, “When geographers work with a campus library as a centralized contact, they magically tap into a powerful network of librarians for partnerships that can be leveraged for cross-disciplinary geo-literacy.”

The versatility of LibGuides allows embedding collected texts, student projects, spatial information, games, quizzes, and more. This dynamic guide has also greatly benefitted from the contributions of students, other geography professors, the Open Source GIS community, Community Health interns, the American Association of Geographers, and beyond.  Barbara shared, “LibGuides can be used to support open science by increasing transparency, collaboration, and sharing.” 

Advice for Other Professors Using LibGuides

Barbara advises, “If you have a LibGuide on a particular subject, let people know who might be interested in contributing to it and don't view a LibGuide as static. It's a dynamic platform that you can change to fit your needs.” 

We've seen LibGuides used in countless creative ways over the years and even have a list highlighting some of our favorites. Reach out to us if you'd like to set up a demo, request pricing, or see more examples of LibGuides in the wild!